Analyzers and transportation systems automatically transporting samples to a plurality of measurement units have been known. In addition, a transportation system capable of promptly performing of a process of samples has been known (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-43248).
The transportation system described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-43248 is provided with a start stock unit holding a plurality of racks housing a plurality of samples before processing, and is configured to select a predetermined rack from the start stock unit on the basis of information of measurement items for the samples and a load (burden) state of each measurement unit and to input the selected predetermined rack to a transportation line. With such a configuration, it is possible to efficiently transport the samples to each measurement unit, and thus it is possible to promptly process the samples.
However, in the transportation system described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-43248, after the selected predetermined rack is input to the transportation line, for example, when an interruption cause of measurement occurs such as error or measurement instruction of a prior sample (urgent sample) in the measurement unit at a transportation destination, the process of the samples in the transported predetermined rack is interrupted. That is, in the transportation system described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-43248, it is difficult to promptly cope with the occurrence of the interruption cause of the measurement in the measurement unit. As a result, there is a problem that the process of the sample cannot be promptly performed.